List of film and TV references
The following is a list of films and TV series referenced or parodied in the What We Do in the Shadows franchise. Vampire and werewolf movies ''An American Werewolf in London'' (1981) *Arjan wears an orange jacket similar to the one worn by David in An American Werewolf in London. ''Blade'' (1998) *Deacon insists that Viago dressing as Blade to the Unholy Masquerade would be inappropriate. *One of the members of the Leather Skins is Wesley Sykes, a parody of Blade actor Wesley Snipes. *Wesley is played by Wesley Snipes, and like Blade, is also a half-vampire daywalker who works as a vampire killer. *Jenna suggests that she and Nadja use motorcycle helmets to protect themselves from the sunlight, like the vampires in Blade. ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) *Paul is played by Paul Reubens, who played a vampire in this film. ''Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) *Jemaine Clement based his appearance and performance of Vladislav on Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Dracula."'What We Do in the Shadows' Trivia" - iMDb *The scene introducing Vladislav bears resemblance to the scene in Dracula where Jonathan is seduced by Dracula’s brides. *Nick’s projectile vomiting references the scene in which Lucy is killed with a stake. ''Dracula'' (1931) *Deacon’s appearance is based on Bela Legosi’s Dracula. ''From Dusk Till Dawn'' (1996) *Danny is played by Danny Trejo, who played vampire characters in this film and its sequel. ''Interview with a Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles'' (1994) *The title of the short film What We Do in the Shadows: Interviews with Some Vampires. *The tag line on the film posters is "Some interviews with some vampires." *Viago’s appearance is based on Louis de Pointe du Lac. *In a scene referencing Louis viewing the sunrise on a cinema screen, Stu allows the vampires to watch the sunrise via an internet video. *Guillermo became interested in vampirism after watching Antonio Banderas portray the first Hispanic vampire in mainstream popular culture, Armand. *’Tom’ (Tom Cruise) and ‘Brad’ (Brad Pitt) were absent members of the Vampiric Council. *Nandor, Nadja and Laszlo are sentenced to death by being exposed to sunlight in a well, a method of vampire execution used in this film. ''Let the Right One In'' (2008) *Laszlo is attacked by cats that cling onto him as he runs away, referencing a scene in the film in which this happens to another vampire. ''The Lost Boys'' (1987) *Viago, Vladislav and Deacon hypnotise Nick into thinking that his plate of spaghetti is actually worms, a prank they admit was inspired by a scene from The Lost Boys. Nick later tries this trick on Stu while he is eating chips, but it doesn’t work because chips don’t look like worms. *’Kiefer’ (Kiefer Sutherland) is an absent member of the Vampiric Council. ''Nosferatu'' (1922) *Petyr bears a strong resemblance to Count Orlok. ''Only Lovers Left Alive'' (2013) *Tilda is played by Tilda Swinton, who played a vampire in this movie. ''Twilight'' (2008) *Nick resembles Edward Cullen, and at one point refers to himself as ‘Twilight’, much to Deacon’s annoyance. *In anticipation of meeting Baron Afanas, Nandor wears body glitter on his face to resemble Edward Cullen. *The Staten Island Werewolf Support Group express frustration at the stereotype of all werewolves supposedly being Native American, caused by the popularity of Twilight. *’Rob’ (Robert Pattinson) is an absent member of the Vampiric Council. Other movies ''The Babadook'' (2014) *One of the guests at the orgy is The Badabook, who also resembles the horror film's titular monster. ''The Exorcist'' (1973) *Josephine bullied Jackie in school by encouraging others to refer to her as "The Jexorcist". *Much of the behaviour Bazu'aal demonstrates while possessing others, such as projectile vomiting, spider-walking, turning their head 180° and insulting Minogue's mother, references that of the posessed girl from The Exorcist. ''Inception'' (2010) *Deacon and Nick defy gravity and bounce off the walls and ceiling when they fight in the flat, referencing the hotel fight scene in Inception. ''Sister Act'' (1992) *Viago previously attended the Unholy Masquerade dressed as Whoopi Goldberg’s character in Sister Act. ''Star Wars'' (1977) *Nick attempts to hypnotise O'Leary and Minogue by waving his hand in front of their faces, only to be told that he's "not Obi-Wan Kenobi". ''Titanic'' (1997) *When the Wellington Police Paranormal Unit and Parker are controlling zombies Donovan and Laupepe by radio, they demand they renact the 'flying' scene from Titanic. Vampire and werewolf TV programs ''From Dusk Till Dawn'' (2014) *In addition to appearing in the From Dusk Till Dawn movies, Danny Trejo, who plays Danny, was a character in this vampire TV series. ''Salem's Lot'' (1979) *Nick hovering outside the window (in both the short film and feature-length film) parodies a scene in which a vampire child hovers outside a window in this TV miniseries. ''True Blood'' (2008) *Evan was played by Evan Rachel Wood, who played a vampire in this TV series. Other TV programs ''Only Fools and Horses'' (1981) *Laszlo refers to Jeff Suckler as "Del Boy" due to the similiar jacket he is wearing. ''Seinfeld'' (1989) *One of Laszlo's pornographic movies he starred in, Seinf**k, is a parody of this sitcom. ''Stranger Things'' (2016) *Confused about which room he is in at 23 Tukariri Street, Minogue wonders if he's in "The Upside-Down". ''The Walking Dead'' (2010) *Maaka says he learned all about zombies from watching The Walking Dead. ''The X-Files'' (1993) *Minogue considers his partnership with O'Leary to resemble that of Mulder and Scully due to their personalities and appearance. *Maaka is seen wearing underwear with a waistband saying "THE TRUTH IS IN HERE". References Category:List of media